not the typical status update

The other day I was sluggish getting out of bed. I took my phone out and starting scrolling down the Facebook feed; only my thumb is moving at this point. Up comes a status update from my old neighbor. It’s been over a year since we’ve last spoken.

There she is, just as I remember.  This time she looks cheerful in the hospital room, about to go through her first round of chemo.

 

Wait, what?

~

I didn’t stay in bed for long.

We’d always gotten along, but we lost contact after we moved away. I sent her a message the same day, but it shouldn’t take cancer for one person to reach out to another.

She’ll be okay. But just as she says in her own words, nobody expects to get cancer at 22. (I’m 20 now — when will it be my turn?) How unsettling, that it can happen to any one at any time.